8-bit Cupid Parallel Interface

[welshleo]

Does anyone here have a Cupid parallel interface for their 8-bit systems? I have a machine that has one of these. Never tried it but I've realised there may be other possibilities with it.

 

The question I have is how can I write programs that actually use it?

[ndary]

do you know who made it?.. i never heard of this interface

[welshleo]

Not yet. I suspect that it was a hack by a UK-based Atari support company in the 1980's. I seem to remember some adverts in Atari User magazine.

 

I haven't looked at it for a while but I think it's a fairly simple mod with a single EPROM. When I did a search for it, I realised it wasn't in the Hardware Upgrade FAQ and only found reference to it at one French site ... only a picture of a 130XE with a parallel printer cable coming out of it.

[welshleo]

Just opened up the machine for a look. This damned thing's like spaghetti junction! It's got a 256K upgrade, stereo pokey, composite monitor output jack (single jack) and, of course, the cupid ...

 

The cupid is another 6520 (I assume, it has a sticker on top) sitting piggy-back on the original PIA. It comes with an EPROM containing a dual OS. The first 4K bank is taken over by the Cupid OS while the second 4K by the Atari OS. The OS can be selected by a switch at the back of the machine.

[ndary]

i have no clude what this upgrade is?...

i do have in one of my 130xe the centronics printer interface upgrade... its an upgrade to the PIA chip allows you to connect any centronics compatible printer directly to the atari.. through a standard parralel port

[Simply_Graham]

It was marketed by 'Computer House' as the C.U.P.I.D  interface, John May wrote the software as I recall. Believe I still have an original disk.

Also 800XL with a nasty messy cut out for s 25Way D-Sub connector, two PIA (actually 6520A with 6821 on top I believe will have to find to check.)

No idea re the Eprom software only knew of the Disk version. assume used spare D6xx or D7xx address lines of the LS138 chip for decoding.

no idea of interwiring between socket and PIA..

 

 

 

[+Nezgar]

On 5/7/2002 at 12:51 PM, welshleo said:

It comes with an EPROM containing a dual OS.

I would be great to see the EPROM dumped... It would be as simple as booting the computer and running JAC!'s Atari ROM dumper, of which an ATR is in the ZIP download at the top of this page: https://www.wudsn.com/productions/atari800/atariromchecker/help/AtariROMChecker.html

 

On 8/31/2019 at 2:51 PM, Simply_Graham said:

Believe I still have an original disk.

Would be good to have this archived as well if you do indeed have it!

[Mclaneinc]

If it was Computer House then I can be sure John May did not write the software as he had no programming experience in any way, he just sold stuff (and fleeced the odd person along the way). I doubt it would have been another product from Mike and Dave who did the controller board for them as they were the ones who got fleeced.....

 

Its possible he learned to program at some point but I knew him well and he had never shown any code to me and Steve when we showed him silly stuff we had done, nor did he show any interest in coding.

Edited September 2, 2019 by Mclaneinc

[Simply_Graham]

Hi McLaneinc / Nezgar

 

I've heard before that John didn't design the hardware, didn't know about his programming skill's and to be honest, I'd never seen him write any software on the fly for the SRAM version of the controller(s) I built, just to go round to his flat with it in an XEGS or XE130  for him to play with and often ended up with a soldering iron sorting out some of the customer Atari's he had in for upgrade.

The software would be ready the next week I visited. 

I need to reverse engineer the original Veroboards I used ...

XEGS (WITH 128K UPGRADE)

 

XE130

 

I've also have three of the Original O.S Controllers, one I purchased and then reverse engineered as the Chips had been defaced.. after that I contacted John and started on the SRAM versions. But ended up with a bare board and another working one without the chips being defaced.

 

I've attached the images as I resently had to reverse enginner the originals so I could work out the CCT Diagram.

You seem to have know John much better than I, it would be good to have a chat and tell me a little of Mike & Dave (I'm guessing you knew them pretty well)

I'll now get notifications on any responce.

 

There is also a pic of the disks I have. see about getting them into ATR's

 

Included is the  C.U.P.I.D software

 

[Mclaneinc]

Ha ha...That's so John, you go around and end up helping him out..Yeah John never designed anything, he was what you might call an Arthur Daley figure albeit with fingerless gloves on all the time. The controller card was a lovely bit of kit, I had a slightly different earlier version from the guys that made it....(the board now sadly gone).

 

Love the old vero boards, the first board looks like a bomb went off

 

If you dealt with John you probably used Maplin (my lot) for your stuff

 

Anyway, great work there, as Nezgar said, any info on it it always appreciated, especially the unknowns..

[+Larry]

Can you determine anything from the programs on the disk(s)?  Maybe just the names of the programs might tell something.  Using a 1/2 + 1/2 OS as described sounds  a bit interesting.

-Larry

[Simply_Graham]

'The BOMB was a MEMPAK Ni-CAD battery used for back up .. controlled by ICL7673 and a pair of transistors..

I don't think it liked being left for 30 odd years and decided to leak ...

[Tickled_Pink]

Bloody hell. Didn't remember setting up an account prior to this one. I just dug out that machine for testing and it still works.

 

I've never used the CUPID and was searching around for more information when I found my old thread had been severely necro bumped. I was wondering if the software and drivers came on disk (which I haven't got) or if it might be embedded in one of the extra operating systems on this machine. I should take a photo and post it later.

[Tickled_Pink]

[Tickled_Pink]

Not the greatest photo. I had a little look at what was under the masking tape and, although it's got what looks like a hand written label on it saying "cupid", is it just the standard PIA? I can't imagine Computer House having access to a custom IC fabrication facility.

 

Or is it even an actual CH CUPID, or an alternative solution marked as such?

Edited July 11, 2021 by Tickled_Pink

[Tickled_Pink]

On 8/31/2019 at 9:51 PM, Simply_Graham said:

It was marketed by 'Computer House' as the C.U.P.I.D  interface, John May wrote the software as I recall. Believe I still have an original disk.

Also 800XL with a nasty messy cut out for s 25Way D-Sub connector, two PIA (actually 6520A with 6821 on top I believe will have to find to check.)

No idea re the Eprom software only knew of the Disk version. assume used spare D6xx or D7xx address lines of the LS138 chip for decoding.

no idea of interwiring between socket and PIA..

 

 

 

Just took a closer look after reading this. There are indeed two chips. I thought the top chip was socketed.

[_The Doctor__]

@Simply_Graham,

did that group of disks ever become .atr files for us silly folks to enjoy?

[Simply_Graham]

@_The Doctor__ Sorry no they didn't I'll dig them out over the next week or so, wont be able to do immediatly as my better half in in hospital.

 

@Tickled_Pink    It'd great that you have all the connections intact.  I could really do with some nice pictures showing the pin connections between the PIA (either a 6520 or a 6821) on top of the original and the 25 Way socket. also would like to know the connection between pins 22, 23 & 24  almost certainly two of these are likely be tied to the original PIA it's sat on one however will go elsewhere... Wereabouts I'd really like to know, I already have an 800XL that originally had this fitted,  I suspect it was a test machine that I ended up with when I was doing some development work for Computer House. The PIA was soldered on Top  dead bug style any wires to the sockets were not present so I've no idea how it was wired, nor on what Address(s) the chip responds to, although I may be able to work this out using a de bugger.

I'll sort out the ATR's as promissed above.

Edited July 12, 2021 by Simply_Graham
...

[Simply_Graham]

I've just found the original PIA from that 800XL , it looks a right mess, and clearly not my soldering on it ..

 

 

 

Going by these pictures its Pin 23 thats wired off to someplace, I'd like to know where too.. Likely the 74LS138 chip, near the MMU (co60818)  and of course the 11 pins on the side must go to the 25Way

Once the ATR is uploaded would you have a printer on which to test it ?  if so and it's working, if you can pass the wiring info back I'll make sure to draw up the circuit diagrams and release them as open hardware for anyone to use.

BR

 

Edited July 12, 2021 by Simply_Graham

[Tickled_Pink]

@Simply_Graham Just had a look. Pin 23 is wired off somewhere. It's routed through a hole to the underside of the board. Unlike most of my other machines, this one still has the motherboard screws intact, so I'll take a look when I get back. It's that white wire you can see in the photo just below and to the left (if you orientate it properly) of the Dual Pokey board. It goes up and through a hole next to U2 and U3 (MMU).

 

I don't actually have a working printer to test it with. I have an old Canon BJ-30 in the attic but no power supply or ink for it, although I did discover recently that you can still get them. Would a BJ-30 work with it, though? I had a BJ-10 that I used with the ST but my memory's a bit sketchy about whether or not you needed drivers for these and if they were Windows GDI printers (or whatever they were called).

Edited July 12, 2021 by Tickled_Pink

[Tickled_Pink]

Had a look and pin 23 appears to be hooked up to pin 14 of the 74LS138.

[Simply_Graham]

@Tickled_Pink Thank you for checking, that would put thge 2nd PIA chip as D100 to D103 then it would repeat over multiple times.

 

D1xx is used by most perhaps all PBI Disk interfaces, i.e. Incognitio as one definate example .

 

Would you mind checking the wires from the 2nd PIA to the 25 Way D socket ? 

pin 1 is GRD

Pin 2 PA0     (PortA bit 0) PA0 to PA7 the 8 date bits

Pin 3 PA1

--                             The same down form to pin 9

--

Pin 9 PA7

Pin 10 PB0               These are likely control lines of some sort connected to PortB bits 0 & 1

Pin 11 PB1

 

and the 25 Way pinout should be this ...

Pin 1 Ground should go to 18-25

Hence I'd expect pin 2 on the 25 way to go to pin 2 on the PIA

It follows the 3-3,4-4,5-5,6-6,7-7,8-8,9-9.

 

Pin 10 maybe pin 10 (ACK) and the same for pin 11 to 11 (/BUSY)

although I think Strobe my need connecting but no 100% sure .

I'll dig out my 1050 this evening, as I could use the ATR in Altirra to check port settings etc.

 

All I need to do is convert a disc to an ATR, time to learn as not done one for ages..

 

Would you be able to take a picture of the dual O.S chip as well ? what kind of board is it in? is the switch on the back panel selecting one of the other..

Would be great if you have or Know someone that could dump the EPROM.

 

 

 

 

Edited July 12, 2021 by Simply_Graham
Added more !

[Tickled_Pink]

It looks like they're connected like this (PIA -> Connector)

 

1 -> GND (can't see exactly which pin, not that it makes any difference, as one of the posts on the connector won't budge)

2 - 9 -> 2 - 9 (Data)

10 -> 1 (Strobe)

11 -> 11 (BUSY)

12 -> 12 (Paper Out)

[Tickled_Pink]

It's a dual OS board. Pretty sure the one marked Cupid has omnimon as well, but I can't remember how to get to it. There are three switches at the back. I think the left one's for the dual Pokey. The middle one's for the OS. I think the other one on the back is for the extra jack at the back. I did have a green CRT monitor at one point and I think the jack might be a luma-only mod. When I was looking at the bottom, I found another wire that looks like it goes to the monitor port and probably adds the chroma line.